Adema - Planets

Ronald: Highly musical hard rock - excellent guitar work, pristine vocals, great drums, understandable lyrics. Awesome!
Jimmy: Heavily processed Nu-math-metal, but with hunky new singer.
Gerald: Better than average Nu-metal. I like the absence of Cookie Monster vocals.
Richard: This is modern rock? Whatever. Earache, my eye.

James Apollo - Good Grief

Ronald: Brilliant alt-country-grass. Songs of incredible depth & personality, excellent lyrics, moody passages & hootenanny dirges.
Jimmy: Mix Squirrel Nut Zippers vibe & Sixteen Horsepower & this is what you get. Surprisingly very good.
Gerald: Kind of an alt-country, folky, bluesy, bluegrass feel.
Richard: Sixteen Horsepower without all the dark religious hang-ups.

The Avett Brothers - Live Vol. 2

Ronald: Excellent live set from alt-bluegrass troubadours. Brilliant songs, great loose performances, great sense of humor.
Jimmy: Live recordings usually suck, this one doesn't. Great new folk/bluegrass band.
Gerald: Honky tonk bluegrass just banjo and guitar and stand-up bass. Very interesting.
Richard: The indie Kingston Trio mixed with The Proclaimers and Violent Femmes.

Matthew Bayot - Circling Buzzards

Ronald: Clever, mildly psychedelic folk/rock music with ethnic instrumentation. Brilliant lyrics, excellent playing, phenomenal production. Cool!
Jimmy: Fascinating Eastern flavored folk. Caustically funny with beautiful layers. We'll be fighting over this.
Gerald: Indian folk laced with jam rock. Very interesting mix of styles.
Richard: What the fuck's a gimpy sitar? I got dibs on this disc. No, YOU shut up.

Kelly Buchanan - Bastard Daughter

Ronald: Adequate chick-rock. Edgey songs, excellent musicianship. Lyrics that express all those secret-not-so-secret girl truths.
Jimmy: Strong female vocals, almost rock with country and folk influences. I dig it big time!
Gerald: Upbeat girly folky rock - lots of energy. Not conventional.

Suzy Callahan - Happier Than Everybody Else

Ronald: Brilliant, hooky pop-rock - A diversity of phenomenal sounds, excellent songs and genius production. Awesome.
Jimmy: Not sure… It's right on the tip of my tongue… I like it.
Gerald: She's like a Japanese rock girl, but she's not Japanese. Good stuff.

Captain Of Industry - !

Ronald: Excellent indie-math-rock album. Technical musicianship married to clever lyrics. Great mood music to chill to.
Jimmy: All the elements of depressing Britpop are in place. It just doesn't grab me.
Gerald: Low key indie rock with Morissey like vocals.
Richard: It's like Television, only more Bunnymen-ier.

The Doxies - Weight Of Gold

Ronald: Odd lyrics scattered among cool pop/rock songs that sound like bedroom recordings - in good ways.
Jimmy: The depraved lyrics and sweet-ass organs are nice. The vocals are a bit watery.
Gerald: Sort of 80's revival. Sounds like the Killers & Franz Ferdinand. A little jam-bandy.
Richard: Power-pop minus the power. Like early Tom Petty or Rank & File.

Teri Falini - Sun Under Me

Ronald: Magnapop-style rock'n'roll - tons of attitude and good guitar riffs. Very New York.
Jimmy: Aggro chick-pop. Not bad if you're into that, although you may have heard it before.
Gerald: Hard rocking girl like the Breeders, L7, Liz Phair, Hole, and so on…

Jon Fritz - When It's Over

Ronald: Mostly cool songs from local Virginian. Cool guitars, some great lyrics and arrangements. Local music.
Jimmy: Pretty folk-rock, simple and not flowery. Nice til he gets a little too Poco.
Gerald: A country-rock John Mayer type singer/songwriter. Nice voice.
Richard: The stupid rhyming Ted Nugent spirit really comes out on "Bitch".

A Gun Called Tension - A Gun Called Tension

Ronald: Schizophrenic post-punk-post-rap-techno-dub collective. Cool beats, interesting raps, great lyrics. Like The Fall meets Ludacris.
Jimmy: A less celebratory Outkast mixing new wave, post-grunge and industrial. It's magically delicious.
Gerald: KMFDM, Ministry, Pigface sound with a surprising hip hop twist.
Richard: Killing Joke, Tricky, Babes In Toyland and Cop Shoot Cop had a beautifully ugly baby.

Gunstreetradio - A Fine Line Between

Ronald: Well-produced local bar-rock band. Interesting songs, some cool guitars. Trying to get to X.
Jimmy: Sounds like Athens, GA. The harmonies are horrendous. Did I say Rank & File?
Gerald: Less than inspired country-rock.
Richard: Drivin' & Cryin' & cryin' & cryin'.

Heap On The Cheap - Heap On The Cheap

Ronald: Good, well-written New York rock. Meaty guitars over throbbing rhythms. The Replacements ride again!
Jimmy: Cheap Trick, that is.
Gerald: Ordinary college rock. Nothing to rave about.

Hillstomp - One Word

Ronald: Fucking amazing Delta-style gritty slide blues - perfectly simple arrangements, dark songs, cool sounds, extreme talent.
Jimmy: Crunchy blues, similar to Scott Byram. Very cool record, this noise will be popular.
Gerald: Electric Delta blues crossed with Appalachian bluegrass. Good sound.

The Histrioniks - Homesick From The Grave

Ronald: Interesting new-folk with amazing guitar work and odd female vocals. Captivating. Enthralling.
Jimmy: Cool, dark folk. Singer has a sweet voice, but needs to open up. Nice guitar.
Gerald: Very mellow, acoustic girl-goddess rock strangeness.
Richard: Sing-song vocals follow guitar lines too closely. Echoey Spanish guitars are good.

The Holy Fire - The Holy Fire

Ronald: Inspiring post-emo rock with Matthew Sweet-style pop edge. Amazing drumming, choice guitars, and great songs.
Jimmy: Boy, this fire is unforgettable. Nice brisk pace, energetic but bleak. Highly recommended.
Gerald: Holy crap! Holy Fire rocks!
Richard: The new saviors of the new rock. Joy Division feel with Britrock ethos.

Kissinger - Me And Otto

Ronald: Forget Garage, this is pure rock'n'roll the way it's supposed to be. Thick & heavy.
Jimmy: 70's rock city - Yeeeah! (And it doesn't even suck. They rock!)
Gerald: Good, crunchy, loud Detroit style garage rock. Trans Am not included.
Richard: ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL, DUDE!

Christopher Mast - If I Told You, I'd Have To Kill You

Ronald: Intimate acoustic songs from promising one-man-band. Lots of Townsend influences. Great songwriter & nice production.
Jimmy: Singer/ Songwriter doing light country & blues influenced rock.
Gerald: Acoustic, folky singer/songwriter stuff.
Richard: Nice album title... not refelctive of the music at all, though.

The Moaners - Dark Snack

Ronald: Brilliant 2-girl rock - amazing lyrics touched with humor over very cool guitar-work. Sparse and lovely.
Jimmy: A rocker girl that actually sings! Sort of. Nice grooves, Sonic Youth delivery.
Gerald: Gritty, stripped down rock with punky, almost spoken word type vocals.

Steve Porter - Homegrown

Ronald: Vince Clarke-inspired techno tracks full of 80's sounds on disco grooves. Very danceable and interesting.
Jimmy: Like fishing in an electron stream. Relaxing and interesting. Soft beat techno.
Gerald: Low key airy electronica, becomes slightly more danceable as album progeesses.
Richard: Dance music for people who hate dance music… like me. Damned catchy.

The Ruby Doe - Always With Wings

Ronald: High-energy riff-heavy rock like Therapy? without the giant psychosis. Excellent near-punk almost -metal rockin'.
Jimmy: Good solid clean rock. By definition, what rock should be.
Gerald: I like to rock, and so do these guys.
Richard: All the good things about metal without the crotch-grabbing bullshit and screaming vocals.

Toast - All In

Ronald: Anthemic rock songs with cool vocalist, great arrangements, awesome instrumentation. Think The Box, less Euro-.
Jimmy: Grand Funk Overdrive. Awful vocals, then cheesy Joy Division to a Manchester beat.
Gerald: Mediocre bar band with bad vocals.
Richard: Throwing a lot of shit, but ain't none sticking.

Chris Tsefalas - I'm All Right

Ronald: The shiniest pop record of 2005. Cool slurry drumming, brilliant guitars and keyboards, great songs.
Jimmy: Good to hear clever keyboards. Excellent, well-rounded, pop that leaves little to be desired.
Gerald: I have no point of reference for this record, but I like it.
Richard: Genius pop. This record feels like the prefect mid-summer day trip.

War Against sleep - Invitation To The Feast

Ronald: Smoother, less-insane Syd Barrett psychedelia, heavy on synthesizers. Brilliant lyrics, excellent songwriting. Captivating & clever.
Jimmy: Killer slow rock. Like if American Music Club was good. Or Eight Horsepower.
Gerald: Nice, soothing, melodic, funky, eclectic. Wish I could read the lyrics.
Richard: A funky, psychedelic Moody fucking Blues. Astute lyrics, totally amazing… Distortionless down-tempo BRMC.

Brandon Wiard - Painting A Burning Building

Ronald: Brilliant pop-rock songs filled with cool drumming, nice guitars, good stories, and poor vocals.
Jimmy: Trite late 80's college pop. Smithereens, Rembrandts, Goo Goo Dolls. I'll be in the quad.
Gerald: A little R.E.M. , Lemonheads type stuff.
Richard: This guy squoze all the gay out of Squeeze and rocked it up a notch.

Woody Whatever - The Great Pop

Ronald: Very cool indie-techno-folk-pop. Like Beck performing Euro-synth pop on happy pills accompanied by Air.
Jimmy: British influenced rock, very diversified, which is refreshing. Generally simplistic pop.
Gerald: Britpop type of sound - heavy on the synth. Hard to pin down.